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June 25, 2013

Man of Steel: Kneel Before Clods (Finale)

You know what? I actually have something positive to say
about this movie. But first…

Spoilers!
But also, positive thinking. But
also spoilers.

All right, let’s get
the third brachiosaurus out of the room.
(Wait a minute. Who has the
zoning clearance to shove three dinosaurs into a single space? Seems a bit hard to get approval for, if you
ask me.)

8) Dragon, dragon -- rock the…oh, whatever.

Well, if ever there was
a way to indoctrinate people into the world of anime and the particulars
therein, this is it. The fights in this
movie are lifted almost directly from any number of Shonen Jump properties, though as others have noted Dragonball Z is a chief influence. They even use some of the infamous moves --
barring the Kamehameha and Big Bang Attack, obviously. There’s a moment where one character snags
another character in a midair Giant Swing, which is something seen both in the DBZ games and the series proper on
several occasions. Craters are formed
with each crash, Kryptonians are knocked through one structure after another,
and there’s juuuuuuuuust enough
screaming to make the connection, but not enough to make things
ridiculous. All that’s missing is a half
dozen episodes where Superman has to charge up his Spirit Bomb.

Joking aside, the
fights and the action are probably the best parts of the movie. I wish they were done with less-dreary
visuals, but you could say that about the movie as a whole. For what it’s worth, though, it’s obvious
that a lot of effort and energy went into making these scenes (well beyond just
rendering them), and praise has to be given.
Granted the fights can be more than a little excessive, and sometimes I
got the sense that they were only showing off all that stuff just to show off
(there’s a scene when one of Zod’s buddies flings a car into a building
because…because Warner Bros. demanded a pissing away of a few million dollars),
but once the action starts in earnest you probably won’t be left wanting.

It’s just a shame that
I clocked out long before the action even started.

I would say that I’m
being unfair to the movie, but…really, am I?
Ignoring the bits of action peppered throughout the movie in the first
half -- which can and regularly do get in the way of developing the story --
the expectation is that, in exchange for a slow and calm first half, we’ll be
rewarded with overwhelming bombast and spectacle in the second half. I can accept that, since it’s a format that
worked fairly well in The Avengers. But whereas that movie gave the audience
plenty to latch onto -- colorful characters with no shortage of humor, along
with a plot moving quickly towards a climactic battle -- Man of Steel stumbles thanks to the sins it commits long before the
start of the second quarter of the
movie, let alone its half.

I don’t know the exact
point when I stopped caring about the movie or the characters in it. It might have been around the point where the
ghost of Jor-El uses his haxor skillz to render Lois virtually obsolete. Maybe when Zod’s worldwide broadcast chants
“You are not alone,” as if we hadn’t had that theme hammered in enough
yet. Maybe as early as Jonathan “I Am
Also Jesus in This Movie” Kent sacrifices himself to appease the tornado
gods. Maybe earlier. But whatever the case, there was just too
much going on -- relatively speaking -- for me to accept it, even if there were
promises of a big whompin’ action scene waiting in the wings.

So I gave up. I knew I wasn’t going to get anything else
like the flying scene in the rest of the movie.
So I just thought to myself, almost word for word, “You know what? Forget it.
I don’t care anymore. Just go
have your big punch-up with Zod so we can end this.” And they did.
And even that wasn’t enough to save the movie for me. Remember, I’m the guy who felt like he had to
suffer through the
opening twenty minutes of Final Fantasy
13-2, in spite of it starting with
a big whompin’ action scene. But the problems
of both are eerily similar, placement in the product aside. I can (try to) forgive the colorless
environment, but if the characters are colorless, then that’s a strike against
it. There’s context for both, to some
extent, but certain points that I want/need to see don’t get the proper
emphasis; the world around them ends up becoming an arena, and nothing
more. Thankfully we know what Supes,
Zod, and the other Kryptonians are capable of in Man of Steel (though I’m still confused as to how Zod managed to
acclimate himself to Earth’s environment and gain powers equal to Superman so
quickly), but outside of the world generally being at stake, there’s a lack of
consequences. Two demigods go at it for
a while until one of them arbitrarily decides it’s time to lose, taking no
damage until suddenly it’s a one-hit kill.
Even in DBZ the fighters would
get seriously roughed up -- or if not that, then at least tired and
sweaty.

An action scene without
proper connection to/development of the story is just a waste of time. To the movie’s credit, it DOES manage to set
up something thanks to the presence of Zod and his plight; the Kryptonian general
loses all his people -- barring Supes -- and even if he is the villain you
can’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for him. But how messed-up is it that I can connect
with a raging tyrant more than I can a big blue Boy Scout? How messed-up is it when I walk away with a
firmer understanding of the villain instead of THE hero?

It’s sad, but from my
perspective it’s true. And even if (IF)
the action scenes do look spectacular, without that magic touch I’d get the
same effect from looking at a stick figure fight on YouTube. Then again, maybe that’s a good thing. If I had cared about the movie up to that
point, maybe I would have raised more objections about how their big punch-up
leads to the biggest massacre ever seen in an urban setting. Maybe I would have cared more about some of
the movie’s needless 9/11 imagery. Maybe
I would have cared more about Superman killing Zod…well, if they’d bothered to
ever set up that conflict of morality to begin with.

But I stopped
caring. And there’s not a punch-up big
enough to change that.

9) Hans Zimmer, calm the hell down.

Okay, some of you
movie/music experts are going to have to help me out on this one. See, outside of the Dark Knight Trilogy, I
don’t really know much about Zimmer’s music or style. I mean, at a glance it looks like he’s done
work for The Lion King, and thanks to
him Iron Chef just got
that much more epic, but…beyond that?
I don’t know. Oh wait, he did Inception, too. I kind of like “Time.” That’s a good song.

In any case, I’m
wondering if -- like Snyder, Nolan, and Goyer -- when it comes to Man of Steel maybe Zimmer was having an
off-day. Or…maybe an off-season. Make no mistake, there are a couple of good
songs in there (the main
theme comes to mind), but there were times when I just wanted the music to
take it down a few dozen notches. To be
fair, it might have just been the theater I was in -- the “RaveXtreme”,
whatever that entails -- but good God, this soundtrack. There were a number of times when it just
felt like overblown noise. Lots of
DA-DUNN-DUNN DA-DUNN-DUNN and BWAAAAAAAAAAAAANG that very nearly -- and in some
cases completely -- ruins the scene.

Notable examples? When Zod and his crew are first getting
shipped off to the Phantom Zone, there is no
need for such bombastic notes to be playing. None.
I can understand a bit of a forte dynamic, but was anybody really asking
for or expecting fortissississimo? I
certainly wasn’t. But even beyond that,
there are worse instances; when Supes and Lois are taken aboard Zod’s ship,
there’s some quiet, but still plenty-tense music playing. It establishes that things have gone wrong,
and our heroes are about to face their roughest challenge yet. And then, BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG
DA-DUM-DUM DA-DA-DUNNNNNNNNNNNN! There
wasn’t even anything particularly action-heavy going on; just a ship moving
slowly away from the planet.

It’s not very often
when music gets in the way of me enjoying a product. But when it does happen, I tend to take
notice. On the other hand, a good song
can elevate a product to an even higher level -- or if nothing else, make for a
really catchy tune. Such as…

Which feeds into my
next point.

10) Think of the children!

I don’t know about you,
but I can’t listen to the John Williams Superman theme without a goofy smile
sliding across my face. It just makes me
feel so damn good. It makes me feel like
I can fly, too -- even though it’s probably not a good idea to try, but I
appreciate the sentiment.

That’s not to say that
the new, Man of Steel-approved theme
is awful (because I think I’ve done enough hating on this movie already). In spite of all I’ve said, I think that that
theme is still kind of good, even if it does get a little too off-the-rails at
points. But you just can’t beat that
heart-lifting emotion of the Williams track.
You just can’t. And before you
call me a nostalgia-tard, bear in mind that this is coming from someone who
only has a vague memory of some, but not all, of the old movies -- with the
theme song being notably absent from my viewing experience. This is coming from someone who’s listened to
the two themes, almost back-to-back, on several occasions.

I would assume,
however, that there are those who would uphold the Williams theme and shoot
down the Zimmer theme -- if not out of a sense of childhood-bred loyalty, then
by way of saying “this song IS Superman” or something like that. Fair enough.
But it’s gotten me thinking; if the new generation is primed to succeed
the old, and their exposure to media is what will help them define what it
means to be a superhero, then what’s going to be the end result?

Man of Steel is significantly darker than what a lot of people --
myself included -- are used to seeing in Superman. But there are some people who are seeing
Superman for…well, if not the first time, then certainly one of the first. What then?
What’s their take away from the movie, the character, the ideals and
themes therein, as a result of this one movie?
What are kids going to be saying and thinking about Superman on the
playground a year on? Five years
on? Ten years on?

(Side note: why is it that young Clark Kent pretends to wear a Superman cape when, in-universe, there won't be a Superman to inspire him for a good twenty years, at least? See, this is why there's nothing wrong with sequential storytelling.)

True, this isn’t going
to be the only Superman-related media to come out in the next ten years. Ignoring the fact that Man of Steel 2 is already coming down the pipeline, there’s
probably a dozen or so animated, direct-to-DVD releases starring Superman as I
type this. So one interpretation is not
going to be the only interpretation…provided, of course, that there’s more
exposure than just this one movie. But
what if it isn’t? What if Man of Steel becomes the gold standard
for “what Superman is” without question or conflict? What if those animated movies take the
interpretation offered by Man of Steel and
play a game of Monkey See, Monkey Do? How
is that going to affect people? How is
that going to affect children?

I’ve always believed
that on some level, it’s not the lessons we learn from our parents or teachers
or friends that makes us who we are.
I’ve always believed that in a lot of ways, we learn the most from the
stories we take in. Take the Power Rangers, for example. Season after season, its teams have been
comprised of a bunch of do-gooders taking up the good fight against
aliens/robots/mutants, imparting life lessons along the way. (There are notable exemptions to the exact
number of do-gooders per team, but even the biggest troublemakers come off as
good guys in the end. To say nothing of Lightspeed Rescue, where EVERYONE was a
rescue worker by default.) Violence is,
and always will be, a big part of that franchise, but it’s not the sole reason
for its existence...and no, I’m not talking about merchandising, either. It may try to sell you toys, but in its own
way it’s also selling ideas. Do the right
thing. Become a hero in your own
way. Improve yourself through discipline,
perseverance, and effort. The seasons
and casts may change, but the ideas inlaid rarely do.

And that’s all ignoring
the nature of the adventure itself. This
is just a theory from a barely-indoctrinated observer, but if you ask me, part
of the reason for One Piece’s enduring
popularity is because it renders everything in a (supposedly) childish
veneer. Once again, it’s that pervasive
element -- the spirit -- that shapes and defines a story, and influences us
with every particular of its construction.
One Piece wouldn’t work
without a leading man like Luffy, and likewise the rest of the story wouldn’t
work without a cast that sounds like something out of a fever dream. And even then, it’s that unpredictable,
colorful world that resonates with and plays off the cast; Luffy is a character
that wants to explore, and the world is one that DEMANDS exploration. The effect?
A spirit of adventure that isn’t to be underestimated or sold
short. It’s a way of teaching us about
the wonders of the world -- their world, and ours -- without directly teaching
us. (It’s worth noting, though, that One Piece isn’t the only one doing this;
Avatar: The Last Airbender works on a
similar axis, introducing us to plenty of unique places and peoples with great
gusto.)

I think this is -- once
more -- a problem I have with gritty stories…or maybe “fear” is more
appropriate. Too many dark and gritty
stories would lead you to believe that the world is a shitty place. And that’s just not true. Maybe it’s true once in a while. Maybe it’s true every so often. Maybe it’s true in certain places across the
glove. But stripping a fictional world
-- its places, its people, and its particulars -- of its colors and absurdities
does no one any favors. It runs the risk of trying to force parallels between a
genuinely-fictional world -- their world of grit -- and our real one. “You can’t trust anyone, everyone’s out to
get you, society’s flawed and doomed, morality’s dead, and the world is small,”
a gritty story might argue.

And I disagree with
that mindset. I might say, “Okay, sure,
sometimes that might be true, but there are plenty of other instances where
that’s not the case. You can trust your
family. People shouldn’t have any reason
to target you unless you go out of your way to harm them. Society’s not perfect, but it has things like
volunteers, rescue workers, soldiers, and teachers. Morality won’t die as long as we have proper
nurturing, education, order, and common sense.
And there are still plenty of discoveries to be made about our world --
and beyond -- even to this day.” And
we’d probably go back and forth on the points for ages. But even if my view is a little too rosy,
it’s still one that has its merits.
Sometimes we need that optimism.
Sometimes we need that cheer.
Sometimes we need that hope.

And I didn’t get that
from Man of Steel -- not in full, at
least. There are glimmers and slivers of
it, yes, but if its intent was to create a movie brimming with hope, they
botched it. You can’t have a movie dish
out such life lessons when its champions of good are presented as godlier as
Superman, and where everyone outside of one or two individuals in the entire
world is bland or nonexistent. You can’t
have a movie preach at you for half its run time about what it means to be
Superman, then have the second half show Superman act more destructively than
the Hulk after his favorite team loses the pennant. You can’t have a movie this dark, dreary, and
dedicated to appealing to perceived modern sensibilities, and then expect to
give children the same perception of Superman as their parents -- as the
much-too-fortunate children of the past.

I wouldn’t be surprised
if some children -- children who, for whatever reason, are allowed to watch a
movie featuring wanton destruction, scene after scene of Super-pontificating,
and unspoken (and spoken) misery of half its main cast -- walked out of that
movie with a worse impression of Superman than before. I wouldn’t be surprised. But what do I know? Maybe those few action scenes (or that one
long one) is enough. Maybe all that
matters is seeing those punch-ups and the glee that follows. Maybe I’m in no position to start playing
moral guardian. Maybe the times are
changing -- and I’m the one who’s going to get left behind, especially in the
wake of this upcoming generation.

But you know what? When all’s said and done, and all my fears,
worries, and grievances are accounted for, there’s one more thing I have to
say.

11) I’m glad this movie exists.

As a matter of fact, I
am serious, Mr. Jameson.

I’ve said it before,
and I’ll say it again: I’m glad The Dark
Knight Rises is out and done so we can all shut the hell up about Batman
for a while. And now that Man of Steel is out, we can start
talking about other (DC) superheroes.
Granted Green Lantern already made waves for all the wrong reasons, but
given the reception that Man of Steel has
garnered -- and the hard-bodied defense offered by guardsmen slinking out of
the woodworks -- I’d say that those that love this movie REALLY love this
movie. Those that hate it…REALLY hate
it.

This is going to be a
pretty divisive topic for a while, I’m guessing. But as I’m in the “NAY” camp instead of the
“AYE” brigade -- and this being the internet, there is no in between -- there’s
one complaint that’s been almost universally constant amongst my comrades: the
movie is too dark, and too gritty, and too serious for a Superman movie. Serious being relative here; it's that overlaid-gravitas that makes some of the sillier moments stick out all the more. (Like Supes hovering a foot above ground as if preparing for some epic planking.)

And that, I think is
going to be a major lesson from Man of
Steel, even if it does turn out to be financially successful (and it
probably will, long before it’s out of theaters). This is going to be the moral that,
hopefully, others will start to learn.
Not just moviemakers; not just purveyors of content across whatever
medium they dabble in. No, I think -- or
at least hope -- that this is going to be something that audiences learn from
this movie. Or if not learn and take to
heart, then at least they’ll have the seeds of doubt planted. As the Eternal Optimist, I have to believe
that they’ll have a certain idea in mind for next time.

So, what’s the lesson
here? Darker does not equal better. (Or
as a corollary, gritty does not equal good.)

There are times when
making something darker -- and I mean thematically darker, not just
aesthetically darker, tonally darker, and especially
not arbitrarily darker -- can improve the story. (Ever heard of Digimon Tamers? That's how you do it right.) But there
are times when certain elements and certain styles just aren’t 100% compatible
with one another. Making Superman darker
is something that probably can and has been done before, but you have to be
very careful. You have to know what
you’re doing, and what you want to do.
Sapping the color out of the character and the world at large isn’t the
way to do it. You have to respect the
audience’s intelligence and maturity, and demand that they engage on a deeper
level than just reaching for smiles from OTT punch-ups.

For some people, Man of Steel succeeded. But for others, it didn’t. It missed the mark, and by a pretty wide
margin. When you have posts asking
things like “Has
Superman Lost His Soul?” making the rounds on the internet, you know
something’s gone wrong. And for the
record, no, I don’t think Superman has lost his soul; the movie just weighs him
down with filters and melancholia. Things that, by and large, didn’t need to be
there. With that in mind, I feel like I
personally have to put Man of Steel somewhere
around HERE on my SmartChart™:

How others feel is hard
to gauge for now. The same goes for how
the movie will be remembered a year on -- whether it’ll have a favorable reception,
or end up being reviled and/or forgotten once the sequel starts kicking
around. Whatever the case, enough people
have raised a complaint about this movie to -- hopefully -- reach the ears of
others. With any luck, those in power
have taken those words to heart, and in lieu of the successes and lessons of
the Marvel Cinematic Universe, maybe we’ll have something that shows the world
the power of positive thinking once and for all. Or with any luck, maybe those who think that
darkness and grit equal quality will start to think twice. Maybe now we can have discussions on tone and
aesthetics and creative vision -- real conversations, instead of mudslinging
across the web. Maybe now we can start
to realize that certain models are broken, and wonder what we can do about
it. Maybe now we have a chance to
appreciate efforts and paths old and new.
Maybe we’ll all walk away from this movie -- and the issues therein -- a
little wiser and more flexible than before.
Who knows what’ll happen?

I’ll tell you what,
though. I hope that something changes,
somehow, somewhere, someway. Because
when all’s said and done, I like heroes.
I want to believe in heroes.

And I get the feeling
that I’m not the only one who feels the same way.